Mike Russow vs. Fabricio Werdum slated for UFC 147

After requesting a fight on home soil at UFC 147, event sources tell MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the Brazilian heavyweight (15-5-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC) is slated to meet Mike Russow (15-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) on the summer card, which takes place June 16 in Sao Paulo.

A venue has yet to be finalized for the event, which airs live on pay-per-view. MMAFighting.com first reported the heavyweight matchup.

Werdum made his request after outpointing Roy Nelson this past month at UFC 143. It was his first octagon appearance in almost four years after a knockout loss at UFC 90 to now-champ Junior Dos Santos brought a pink slip from the UFC.

The submission specialist (and vastly improved striker) would go on to fight in Strikeforce, where he went 3-1 with the promotion and notched a career highlight by tapping Fedor Emelianenko in 69 seconds with a triangle choke.

When Werdum returned to the UFC, however, he said it was a long-awaited homecoming. Prior to his loss to Dos Santos, he earned wins over Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera.

Russow takes the out-of-towner role after a workmanlike decision over John Olav Einemo at this past January’s UFC on FOX 2. That brought to four the Chicago native’s UFC win streak. In fact, Russow hasn’t lost since being submitted by Sergei Kharitonov at the second-to-last event of the now-defunct PRIDE Fighting Championships.

Although Russow rarely wins raves for his wrestling-centric attack, he could break into the division’s top-10 with a win over Werdum.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is probably the greatest female fighter on the planet, which is a tremendous feat. So why are we seemingly so obsessed with arguing about whether she could beat up men?